A press conference was held this morning to announce an exciting merge between the Arabian Knights and Dubai Eagles rugby clubs, both of whom are based at the Dubai Sports City’s Rugby Park ground.

In attendance were Knights Chairwoman, Louise Palmer, Eagles Director of Rugby, Sean Carey, Secretary General of the UAE Rugby Federation, Qais Abdulla al Dhalai, CFO of Dubai Sports City, Vijay Sajjanhar and Consultant for DSC, Jeff O’Brian as they officially announced the merge.

The new rugby club will be called the Dubai Knights Eagles

Both clubs share the same goals of developing rugby here in the UAE and are hoping for a tremendous boost by the merge, as they will now be able to offer the full spectrum of community rugby from grass roots, right the way through to senior rugby both male and female. The Knights bring a strong mini/youth rugby section to the party and the Eagles bring top flight Premiership rugby and an incredibly strong womens rugby section as well as mini and junior players.

Collectively the new Dubai Knights Eagles Rugby Club will have over 500 members helping the club move on to bigger and better things next season.

Chairwoman, Louise Palmer said;

“I founded the Knights over 10 years ago with my late husband and have a passion for the rugby community and the support here at Sports City has been amazing. So here I am 10 years later looking for stability more than anything and for the legacy of the club to go on with the ethos and the ethics that we’ve always built where everybody gets to play rugby.” 

Director of Rugby, Sean Carey said;

“For me I see this as a huge potential for growth in the region for rugby. As you know, the Knights have been around a while and they’ve got a great junior setup. The merge is perfect with the different teams coming together. The ultimate goal is the development of rugby and thats also the vision of Dubai Sports City and the UAE Rugby Federation’s vision also.”